Late last year I switched from Pandora to Spotify for writing music, and for the most part I couldn’t be happier. Spotify is leaps and bounds better at finding new music based on tracks you already like. They’ve added customized suggestions too, like the Release Radar that updates late Thursday/early Friday every week and recommended songs at the bottom of your individual playlists. My ears have never been so happy, except when they keep putting rap metal into my weekly Discover Playlist.

Nowhere did I sign up for rap metal, end of story.

Anyway, I thought it’d be neat to go over the songs I found through Spotify this year and make my own Top 5 list. They have a playlist of top 2016 tracks for me but I don’t agree on the order, so nyeh. Anyway, these are the songs that have most influenced and helped with my writing this year:

#5– Tie between Lifelines by I Prevail and Happy Song by Bring Me the Horizon

Lifelines is upbeat and a little on the lighter side, but has a killer chorus. Brings to mind fight or action scenes wherein the MC is finally victorious or has some kind of epiphany after screwing up so many times.

Happy Song doesn’t exactly sound happy… unless you have a bit of a dark heart (like me!). But it’s inspirational, in its own way. From just a normal, non-writing perspective, the lyrics really hit home; no matter how shitty a day has been, or how bad my mental state is, all it takes is one song – an anthem for that moment – to escape the maelstrom and survive.

Gnarly bass, heavy guitars – be still my beating heart. Great background music for an anti-hero getting ready to kick some ass, or anyone for that matter.

#4 – My Soul is Empty and Full of White Girls by Slaves

No, I have no idea why it has this kind of a name. What I do know is that I love the bass line. The chorus is uplifting bordering on ethereal, kind of a magic in itself (which doesn’t hurt when you’re trying to visualize spells and magic). It’s been hugely beneficial when I get into a rut about my MC, specifically on the urban fantasy project, and need to remember where she’s going in the bigger picture.

#3 – Talking Body by Don Vedda (Tove Lo cover)

Going to slowwww it down a bit with this one. Covers are often hit or miss when they come up on the playlists, but this one gives my current favorite (Chandelier by Normandie) a run for its money. Once again, the bass line drew me in and the guitar solo sealed the deal. Like #4, this song helps remind me the story’s a marathon effort, not a sprint. Also not to rush the romance arc… which is how I ended up writing the payoff scene intended for one of the sequels. TLDR – great for romance arcs!

#2 – Mad at Myself by Issues

I had such a hard time picking between Talking Body and Mad at Myself for this spot, but ultimately had to go with MaM. Dare I say it? Loved the bass and guitars, and the switching between clean and screamed vocals. The dual personality fit MC well, given the two worlds she’s trying to fit into. It’s a messy sort of character anthem, and hella fun.

#1 – *Moth by HELLYEAH

Where do I even begin with this? It’s one of those rare unicorn songs that just fits perfectly with damn near everything. Dark, heavy, lovely; seriously I listened to this on repeat for almost a month straight when it first came on, and STILL haven’t worn it out.

Moth is one of those songs I expect will be on almost all of my playlists for sci-fi/fantasy writing projects. Midpoint/mirror moment? This song’s for you. Negative character arc? This song’s for you. Good vs. evil or grey vs. black climax battle? This song’s for you. Betrayal, loss of hope, renewal of hope, a thousand other things – this song’s for you.

*Warning – video contains bugs (moth and pupae), suggestions of domestic abuse and cutting (aftermath, not actual acts), and guy holding a string of fake severed ears for some reason.

And that’s it! Enjoy the songs, and hopefully one of them will spur your own creativity and imagination. The actual “Top Tracks for 2016” playlist that Spotify made for me can be found here. If the link doesn’t work, give a shout in the comments. And if there are any songs that really inspired you this year, let me know!